Month: January 2013

After the not-awful training session at the gym two days ago, I hopped in the car and drove 7 miles to the gym to walk this morning. I smirked when it occurred to me that the round-trip drive might be an average day’s walk when I’m on the Camino. Only instead of fossil fuels, I’ll be burning off my meal. Anyway, I’m looking forward to getting up to more than a mile and a half to justify the drive to the gym. In the long run, I hope to be walking outdoors more.

A friend lent me a book called Finding the Camino which is a story of a mom and daughter from Newberg, Oregon who biked the route starting from Paris. Jeanne Williamson and her daughter, Lorraine, landed at the Charles de Gaulle airport, assembled their bikes, and started rolling.

I believe in meaningful coincidences. Happy accidents. I believe that sometimes, in moments of doubt, the Divine acts through the people around you to let you know you’re okay where you are and that it’s safe to move ahead.

REI has knowledgeable service-oriented staff, an incredible return policy, and quality products. They encourage you to try stuff out. They’ll discuss the finer points of the benefit of a poncho vs. a pack cover for 10 minutes without batting an eye. The same person can walk you around the store and answer various questions. I love this.

Perhaps it should be all about soul, but I’ve got to start with my feet. The salesgirl told me today that your feet hit the ground 1500 time per mile, give or take. So what you put on your feet matters.

Including the socks, I come in at a whopping size 11.5 women’s shoe and a D width. Too bad women’s shoes come in B width and whole sizes after 10. Men’s shoes come in D width as the standard size, but are — well, they look like men’s shoes.

I have Mark to thank. I came home tonight and said, “Okay. I’m going to buy the tickets and make this real. But I want a sign.” And when I opened up my email, the very first message at the tippity top was a generous gift from my dear friend Mark, entitled “Spiritual quest support.”

My leap of faith at the moment is whether and when to buy the tickets. I’ve been hedging for a week.

I realized that my financial plan isn’t 100% solid – and that unnerves me. As much as I am compelled to go on this pilgrimage, as certain as I am that this is the year to do it, I have responsibilities to my partner, my clients, and my creditors too.